In the first league game of the season, the Palo Alto High School softball team crushed Milpitas High School, 10-0, continuing its winning streak on Wednesday at home.
“This is Paly’s first year in the De Anza Division,” head coach Tim Anderson said. “Even though we came up from the El Camino division, we are the new kids on the block. The kids played like a championship team, so it was a lot of fun. I’m proud of them.”
The Vikings put on an offensive clinic highlighted by senior shortstop Lauren Bucolo hitting two home runs and junior Gracie Marshall belting a triple. Palo Alto managed to score 10 unanswered runs, which resulted in an early finish to the game due to the 10-run mercy rule
The Vikings scored two runs in the first inning, including one of Bucolo’s home runs, to take the lead taking the lead. With a secure defense and a quick strong offense, the Vikings were unstoppable.
“We definitely stepped up our offense,” sophomore outfielder Emily Swanson said. “We don’t normally do well on our hitting, but rely on our pitcher, Kelly [Jenks], to get us through. We definitely had a solid offense this time, so it took a lot of stress off of Kelly.”
In the bottom of the third inning, with the Vikings at bat, Bucolo hit her second home run, bringing senior third baseman Kristen Dauler home and scoring an additional two runs, 4-0.
“I think everybody had a good day and they showed that we are an offensive team as well as a defensive team,” freshman outfielder Maya Padilla said. “I think we did a great job all around and I hope we keep up the hard work.”
In the bottom of the fourth inning, with the Vikings ahead 7-0, Marshall hit a triple to the left field gap with the bases loaded to bring the score to 10-0.
The Trojans had one last chance to score a run in the top of the fifth, but failed to score a run get a point on the score board at the top of the fifth inning, but failed to get a hit. The mercy rule was enforced and the game was cut short two innings.
“Even though we got a 10-0 win, we can’t let that get to our heads,” Bucolo said. “We’re going to see some really strong teams in our league, like Homestead and Wilcox [High School]. We just have to keep playing hard and we can’t give up. We know we’re going to see some better teams [in the future]. As long as we keep improving, we’ll be successful.”
Despite the strong victory, Anderson hopes that the girls continue to keep improving and working hard.
“The girls know they have the pitching and we have very solid defense,” Anderson said. “We just need to continue to improve in all aspects of the game and if our hitting can match our defense, then we are going to be very successful.”
The team will face Homestead High School at 4 p.m on April 7 at the Paly softball field.